Syria Denies Test-Firing Scud Missile on Sunday

Syria on Monday denied accusations that Israel’s radar on Sunday tracked a Scud missile test-fired within the borders of the Arab country.

Syria on Monday denied accusations that Israel’s radar on Sunday tracked a Scud missile test-fired within the borders of the Arab country, said reports.

The missile was allegedly launched near Aleppo and landed in a desert area in southern Syria.

Syrian Defense Minister Mustapha Tlass accused Israel of wanting war after destroying a Syrian military installation in Lebanon over the weekend, said the Associated Press.

“We have no missiles,” Tlass told AP. “No missile has been fired from Syria, not even as a test.”

According to Israeli sources, on Sunday, the Green Pine radar system detected the Syrian launch from the time the Scud took off, and followed it on its 300-kilometer route until it landed in the Syrian desert.

The sources called the events on Sunday "almost real time conditions" for testing Israel's Arrow missile air defense system - without actually launching the missile.

Green Pine, said Haaretz, was designed to pick up signs of missile launches from all over the Middle East, including Iraq and Iran.

According to Israeli security sources, Green Pine has doubled the amount of early warning to Israel about a missile attack from three minutes to six.

Israeli warplanes pounded a Syrian radar station in Lebanon on Sunday, wounding at least two Syrian troops and a Lebanese soldier.

Syria warned before Sunday's air strikes that it would hold Israel responsible for any new "aggression."

It was not clear if Sunday's missile test came before or after the attack on the radar station, launched after the Lebanese Hizbollah movement bombarded Israeli troops in a disputed border region on Friday – Albawaba.com